Critchley reveals simple half-time message from Liverpool boss Klopp

Jurgen Klopp sent a half-time message to the youthful Liverpool side that were knocked out of the League Cup 5-0 by Aston Villa on Tuesday night.

Liverpool fielded their youngest-ever team against Villa with an average age of 19 years and six months with Under-23s boss Neil Critchley in charge for the quarter-final clash.

And the youngsters did Liverpool proud with a bold performance which was not reflected in the scoreline.

They were 4-0 down at the break, but Klopp who was watching from Qatar, ahead of tonight’s Club World Cup clash with Monterrey, urged them to keep being “brave”.

Critchley said: “We had some information at half-time from the manager. It was to keep playing the way we were playing, keep being brave. He was out there watching with staff and players, and I’m sure he’ll be proud of the way we played.

 

 

“This is what has been decided by the club as the best solution, and try telling those players this has been a bad [experience] for them. Maybe one or two of our players will be sneaking off on a plane joining the first-team group in Qatar.”

The youthful side had some bright moments during the game and came out on top in possession and passing stats, as well as having more shots and corners, but were beaten 5-0 at Villa Park thanks to goals from Conor Hourihane, Morgan Boyes (OG), Jonathan Kodjia (2) and Wesley.

Despite the scoreline Critchley couldn’t hide his pride in his players in his post-match interview, telling Sky Sports: “I thought we were magnificent from the first whistle, the start to the game we made was fantastic.

“We had a couple of chances, we were there from the first moment and we were really unfortunate to concede from a free kick and then a cruel deflection. You find yourself 2-0 down and you’re thinking we’ve actually played well at that point.”